The four leaders looked at each other uneasily as a long moment of silence passed between them.

  The ulla stamped his feet. ‘We are between a predator and a cliff. Either way we turn, there is danger,’ he complained with a low rumble.

  ‘Between an attacker and a cliff, there is only one real choice,’ the wild dog yipped.

  ‘That depends on the height of the cliff and the attacker,’ growled the trodil.

  The harash scraped its shell. ‘And in this case, is it a high cliff or a low one?’

  ‘Rather than talk about cliffs and predators,’ Dominic interrupted with a low snarl. ‘Consider the fact that I am here, and that the matriarch is not. And that the consequence of the Challenge we have just fought is that you surrendered to me to save your lives.’ And he still didn’t get why the System wasn’t enforcing it. Or maybe it would if they tried to attack him again? He decided not to test it out.

  ‘Yet her eyes are everywhere,’ the harash pointed out, waving its antennae towards the sky – and the albuhas soaring on the warm updrafts emerging from the warming earth below. ‘What good is surrender if we will be killed later?’

  ‘We were all present when the group of winged dogs were ordered to report back to the matriarch. She will know of our defection,’ the wild dog whined fearfully. Dominic had the sense from his shifty behaviour that he was about to cut and run, his pack with him, hoping that Dominic would allow them to leave. Which, if they were truly running away, he would – removing his enemies allies was almost as good as converting them to his side. Better to let them run than risk more of his Pride’s lives trying to stop them.

  Of course, the wild dog wasn’t aware of one important fact which might make all the difference. Dominic still hesitated for a moment. He hadn’t intended on revealing the albuhas’ allegiance, but if that was going to be the one thing that made the difference between them deciding to throw in with him versus throwing in the towel….

  ‘Is your concern about surveillance the only thing stopping you from declaring allegiance here and now?’ Dominic asked the leaders, looking from one to the other with piercing eyes. They were silent for a long moment, looking between each other.

  ‘For me, it is,’ the ulla eventually responded with a snort and a stamp of his hoof. ‘They are the only ones who declined to take part in the Challenge. The rest of us did, and any of us who would dare to tell the matriarch of what has occurred here would be met by her displeasure too, due to our disobedience of her order to attack and destroy until we met significant resistance, at which point we were to retreat.’

  ‘And whose fault is that?’ demanded the trodil, though he lowered his gaze when the ulla turned his head to stare at him. The ulla continued looking at the others, perhaps to see if there would be any further argument. The wild dog dipped his head to look at the ground, while the harash, with its usual placidity, met the ulla’s gaze. Apparently the bison-like creature was satisfied as he turned his head to look back at Dominic, his deep brown eyes resigned to what he must see as an inevitable conflict.

  ‘Then, if I can ensure that no hostile surveillance will reveal your changed allegiances to the matriarch, do I have your word that you will swear allegiance to me here and now? And mean it,’ Dominic asked, meeting the ulla’s resigned look with a challenging one of his own.

  The bison-like creature hesitated. Knowing from their previous interactions that the ulla held a lot of influence with the other leaders of the group, Dominic didn’t shift his gaze until he got a response.

  ‘If you carry out your promises, then yes, I will give you my allegiance,’ the ulla finally agreed. ‘You have proven yourself both powerful and merciful. Whether the latter is a good trait in a leader, only time will tell. It certainly has benefited me today.’

  Dominic turned his attention to the other three leaders.

  ‘And you? Same question.’

  One by one, the other three agreed to the same terms that the ulla had. The wild dog appeared more than a little fearful about it, perhaps fearing that even the admission would damn him and his pack for good. The trodil was more angry – Dominic sensed that admitting another party was stronger than him wasn’t something he liked doing. As for the harash, it considered the matter carefully and then agreed with an ease that none of the others had offered.

  Dominic mentally grinned in anticipation even as he tilted his head towards the sky. Instead of using the Pride chat, he decided to project his words to the leaders as well.

  ‘So, are you planning on telling the matriarch what happened here?’

  Howler flew a bit lower and clearly decided to play along a little. ‘It was an impressive battle. The matriarch would probably like to know that there are several dangerous females in the territory she would like to take as her own.’

  ‘Just females?’ Dominic asked in an outraged tone, though only half-joking. He hadn’t been fighting that badly, surely?

  Howler glided down and landed in front of Dominic. The other leaders seemed to tense a little, perhaps expecting a fight.

  ‘Just the females,’ Howler answered playfully. ‘Unless you’d rather I don’t, of course – pack leader.’ He leaned in to lick at his jaw in a quick gesture of respect before he brushed along Dominic’s body on his way to greet Jenkins.

  She enthusiastically returned the greeting with a jaw lick and then added a happy head rub. Teeth and Jaws followed Howler down and sauntered towards the Pride. The rest of the albuhas were a little more reticent, but they landed and tucked their wings away, docilely enough.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Dominic struggled to not break out into huffing laughter at the looks on the faces of the other leaders. Pole-axed was an understatement. The ulla in particular let out a lowing sound which ended on a high note, signalling his shock. The wild dog’s eyes were almost bugging out of his head as he stared at Howler and Jenkins.

  ‘One of yours is the winged canine’s mate?!’ he exclaimed a moment later.

  ‘What?!’ cried Leo in outrage. ‘No!’

  ‘No, she’s his immediate leader,’ Dominic hurried to clarify before Leo started calling for Howler’s death just to make sure it was cleared up. ‘I’m her mate. Anyway, as you can see, the albuhas are no threat.’ He continued by speaking to Howler privately. ‘You’ve talked to your new packmates, right? They know that they’re going to join our Pride?’

  ‘I spent the battle doing that,’ Howler assured him. ‘Joking aside, they were impressed by your power and that of the Pride. They are happy to join my Pride. Mostly.’ Dominic was glad to hear it, though hoped that the ‘mostly’ wasn’t going to come and bite him in the ass. Perhaps literally. He rolled his eyes mentally as he heard Leo letting out a hint of an outraged growl at Howler claiming their Pride. It probably felt like salt in the wound of the wild dog interpreting Jenkins as Howler’s mate.

  ‘I doubt he means it in the sense that he’s the leader,’ Dominic told him. ‘He’s just recognising that he’s as much a part of it as anyone else. And that’s a good thing.’

  ‘As long as he doesn’t think that he can become leader,’ Leo threatened darkly. ‘Or mate with Jenkins,’ he added.

  Having greeted the various members of the Pride, Howler came to stand next to Dominic, though making his subordinate position clear by standing at his shoulder rather than moving head to head with him. Teeth and Jaws took up their positions behind Howler with the rest of the albuhas less sanguine about their position so close to those who had been enemies all too recently. But Dominic couldn’t focus on them when he still had the leaders before him whose allegiances he needed to officially clinch.

  ‘You managed to sneak some of your own into the attack?’ the ulla asked, sounding reluctantly impressed.

  ‘I did,’ Dominic confirmed, seeing no need to go into any more details than that. ‘They will keep our secrets. So, with no concern about any word reaching the matriarch’s ears about today's events, will you keep your promise?’ Dominic couldn’t help but complete the question in his mind even if he left it unspoken: or will you restart the fight and need to be killed right here and now? He suspected that the gist might have been communicated one way or another, though, as he saw fear in the ulla’s eyes. Possibly the System would prevent a fight breaking out again, but he had no way of knowing whether it would or how. A moment later, the bison-like beast turned his head to one side, presenting his vulnerable throat.

  ‘You have won my allegiance by might and mercy. Prove yourself against the matriarch and you will have a true ally in me and my herd. Be defeated, and we will leave, though we will not try to kill you or yours at that time in recognition of the mercy you have shown us now.’

  [Congratulations! You have made your first temporary alliance. To cement this into a permanent alliance, you must prove yourself stronger against the one who previously commanded their fealty: the Spotted Hyena Matriarch, (potential) Lady of the Plains.

  Note: members of an allied group will not automatically be considered as part of your Pride and will not benefit from or affect any Pride Enhancements you have active.]

  That the members of an allied group wouldn’t automatically count as part of his Pride wasn’t surprising – he’d had to invite Nyx to become part of it after he’d taken her as a vassal, after all. He hadn’t tested whether she was affected by things such as Immunity at the time. Actually, had he had Immunity at that point? He couldn’t remember.

  It was the first time Dominic had seen an alliance message, though, which made him wonder why nothing had appeared when he’d taken Nyx as a vassal, or when he’d threatened the kesh into compliance the first time. Maybe, because she was a vassal, the rules were different. And technically the kesh had never really been allies – they’d been defeated and obliged to follow his rules if they wanted to remain in the forest at all. He hadn’t asked for an official alliance. Maybe he should press for that from Three-Spot when he got back. Or maybe, like the ulla, it had to be offered by the subordinate ally.

  ‘I accept your alliance and will seek to prove worthy of it by defeating the hyena matriarch in the near future,’ Dominic told the ulla seriously. The bison-like creature shifted back to look at him properly, his eyes silently communicating a message of hope and fear intertwined with each other.

  Dominic turned to the other leaders. As expected, they followed the ulla’s lead – despite how they’d objected to him putting himself in that position before the fight. It wasn’t long before Dominic saw that same notification three more times.

  Upon pulling up his status, he found that there were some additions to the bottom of it, in the same section where Nyx was listed as his vassal.

  Vassals:

  - Nyx - Ameshek female (level 30)

  Alliances:

  - (temporary) Long-horned Ulla male (level 18) (Group representative)

  - 19 members (highest level: 15, lowest level: 3, mean: 11)

  - (temporary) Trodil male (level 19) (Group representative)

  - 11 members (highest level: 18, lowest level: 5, mean: 16)

  - (temporary) Wild Dog male (level 14) (Group representative)

  - 17 members (highest level: 14, lowest level: 1, mean: 9)

  - (temporary) Harash female (level 17) (Group representative)

  - 22 members (highest level: 17, lowest level: 11, mean: 15)

  It was a bit of a surprise that the ulla wasn’t the highest levelled leader – it once again showed that natural size mattered and could actually compensate for a few levels. The question why the wild dogs appeared so weak was also solved – they had the lowest levels and that together with their small size basically doomed them.

  ‘We’re letting not only canines join us, but also prey. What are we supposed to eat now?’ Leo grumbled.

  ‘We’ll figure that out if it becomes an issue,’ Dominic told him, closing his status. ‘So far, it hasn’t. Let’s hope it remains that way. In the meantime, the ullas are too powerful to just relegate them to prey status.’ He focussed on the leaders. ‘Alright, good. I have lots of questions to ask you about the matriarch and the rest of her army– by answering them to the best of your ability, it should increase the chances of us winning against her without losing too many of our own. But for now, you need to rest, heal, and I need to check in with our other allies. After that, we will deal with those of our dead who still lie in the hot sun.’

  He was all too aware that the elves were still standing in a defensive position and had no idea of what was going on since Dominic was unable to communicate with them at the current distance. He’d have to get closer. ‘Do any of you have healing Abilities?’ he asked the beasts around him almost absently, his mind already on the next task.

  here!